DENVER (AP) -- Dick Wadhams has been elected the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, which has lost a U.S. Senate seat, two U.S. House seats, the governor's office and control of the Legislature in recent years.

Wadhams, who was elected Saturday, served as press secretary for former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont, from 1994 to 1995 before leaving to work for Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard.

Wadhams managed successful campaigns for Allard in 1996 and 2002 and for Gov. Bill Owens in 1998, when Owens became the first Republican elected governor of the state in 24 years.

Wadhams returned to Montana in 2000 to take over Burns' ailing re-election campaign and turn it into a victory.

In South Dakota, Wadhams was credited with engineering the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.